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Friday, April 11, 2003

By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser is expected to decide today whether he will accept the men's basketball job at the University of Pittsburgh.

One day after Wake Forest Athletic Director Ron Wellman supposedly offered Prosser a new contract, Prosser went to work at Wake Forest yesterday, spoke with reporters and greeted fans who staged a rally outside his office in an effort to convince him to stay.

Prosser gave no indication that he was leaning toward leaving for the job opening in his hometown or staying at Wake Forest, where he has built a strong program in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But a decision, according to several sources, is coming today from the Carnegie native who seems to be torn between the two schools. Pitt officials were said to be growing weary of the wait, and asked for a decision by today.

Prosser met with his players yesterday and discussed the situation. "He told us just to sit tight, and that he'll make an announcement [today]," Wake Forest player Scott Benken said.

One source close to Prosser said he would be surprised if Prosser comes to Pitt.

"I think it's going to be that he stays," the source said. "If he hasn't pulled the trigger by now. ... If it was as far along as people said it was, then he would have already gone back and talked to his AD and done it."

If Prosser does not come, Jamie Dixon appears to be next in line for the job. He is the only other person to have interviewed for the position and is the choice of the players. On Wednesday, Memphis Coach John Calipari removed his name from consideration after Pitt failed to contact him. Yesterday, Manhattan Coach Bobby Gonzalez said he is operating under the assumption that Pitt no longer wants him, if they ever wanted him at all.

"I haven't heard from anybody up there," said Gonzalez, who led Manhattan to the NCAA tournament this past season. "I assume they're moving on. I'm hearing that Skip Prosser is the guy. If not, then maybe Jamie Dixon. No one has called me or called my athletic director, so that's where it is. I didn't campaign for the job. I didn't go through any intermediaries or agents. I wasn't the one putting my name out there in the paper. I guess my name surfaced because Sonny Vaccarro has been pushing for me."

When he was asked if he was withdrawing his name from consideration, Gonzalez said "I don't have to do anything. I can't withdraw my name from something I've never been involved in. I'm recruiting now for Manhattan. That's my concern."

North Carolina State Coach Herb Sendek, of Penn Hills, might still be under consideration.

The role of the athletic directors in this search took another turn yesterday. Wellman's name has surfaced for the athletic director's position at Tennessee. Prosser and Wellman have a good relationship. Pitt does not have a full-time athletic director, which could be a stumbling block for a coach who wants to know who he will be working with in the future. Marc Boehm has been serving as interim athletic director at Pitt since Steve Pederson left in December for the athletic director's position at Nebraska.

Prosser covets a stable and solid relationship with his athletic director.

"I've been blessed. I've had a great relationship with every AD I've worked for," Prosser told the Winston-Salem Journal. "I don't think I could work someplace where I didn't have a good relationship with my boss."

For a second day in a row, Wake Forest fans let Prosser know how they feel about him. Between 40 and 50 fans showed up outside his office door yesterday morning in a driving rainstorm and chanted "Wake loves Skip." Prosser came out of his office to greet them. He said the response over the past two days has been "touching."

Meanwhile at Pitt, the basketball coaches offices were dark by late afternoon, and Boehm left the building early.

NOTE -- Pitt will have a banquet for its fans Tuesday. Dixon is scheduled to represent the basketball program at the banquet. There had been talk of postponing it, but the administration gave the go-ahead for it to remain Tuesday.